E-Pals



E-Pals

Definition: E-pals is an educational technology company and the leading provider of safe social learning networks. It allows k-12 schools to have safe learning communities online.

Teachers Uses:

It is great for collaborating between students, teachers, parents and administrators. Students around the world can also connect and share projects and ideas.

One way that teachers can have students use e-pals is by having them read an article and then participate in a discussion board with the rest of the class where they share ideas and thoughts on the article or other homework assignments/questions. Students can participate in literature circles and have discussions.

Teachers can have students write emails to each other to develop letter writing skills.

Students can have pen-pals and learn about different cultures. Pen-pals can also help students see the importance and learn to use complete sentences and appropriate spelling so that other people can understand them.

Students create projects online and other students can see and comment on the projects. Students can also create wiki's to show information that they have learned and also create wikis to teach other students information.

Foreign Language Classes: Teachers who teach foreign languages can connect their students with students who speak the foreign language. For example, students in a Spanish class can interact with Spanish speaking students, practicing their Spanish and learning to understand the language from students who speak fluent Spanish.

Web Links

Getting Started Video This video is great for teachers to get started on E-pals. It gives directions on how to use the site. There are multiple videos. The first helps you get started. The second [|video] walks you through basics of E-pals, helping you learn how to collaborate with other classrooms in other cities, states, or countries around the world.

E-Pals Global Community This site explains the purposes of E-Pals and everything it offers. This will help teachers determine if E-Pals is right for their classroom. It also helps teachers see where to start when introducing this into their classes.

User Stories This website has stories written by teachers who have used E-Pals. They explain how they used E-Pals in their classroom and how it helped the students and how the students felt about using E-Pals and communicating with other students around the world.